The Dutch Grammar Forum

[bijwoorden en bijvoeglijk naamwoorden]
An adjective says something about a noun or person: E.g. "the beautiful story" or "She is happy".
An adverb says something about a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a phrase, or a clause: "You did that well", "That is really nice."

Can we also say "Eens waren we vriendinnen..."? Why does Ooit actually seem to be preferred in some cases; I am thinking there must be a subtle difference...

kind regards

rhino

You *can* say "eens waren we vriendinnen", but it sounds very formal and old-fashioned, much more natural to say "ooit".

I would say that "eens" is generally used for uses of "once" that refer to one specific occasion at some vaguely defined point in the past. Sentences like e.g. "Ik was eens op vakantie in Frankrijk, toen...". "Ooit" is more for "once" in the sense of something being the case at one point in time, but no longer being so - like your example about being friends.

Afgemaakt. "Als", "wanneer" or "zodra" (= as soon as), indeed, but - apparently only in Belgium - constructions with "eens" or the similar "eenmaal" are also possible. See the extensive discussion here, although that website doesn't exactly have the easiest Dutch to read.